The Hicks Family

I have so much to catch up on and share and I don't even know where to start. I'll start with the beautiful weather that we've had the past few days, the end of last week and over the weekend I took full advantage of the perfect weather and ran several times. It was a joy and delight to be outside running (with no knee pain!!) in the cool but not cold temperatures and the bright sun shinning. I loved not being bundled in layers of clothes and gloves, but to feel the fresh air all over...it has been perfect. Although we did have a day and night of showers and storms...those are almost forgotten because the beauty of the other days. Such a joy and I hope that spring will arrive and stay for as long as possible!

Last Thursday my mom packed her car and took Collier to the lake a day ahead of the rest of us. Which left Justin and I alone for a night and we almost didn't know what to do. I felt like I was functioning with out my right arm. But we totally enjoyed ourselves and even got up early on Friday morning to enjoy a delicious breakfast at the Ranch House (If you're in Bham and haven't eaten there...you should) Friday afternoon we drove down to the lake and met Mom, Dad, Chris, Amanda, Ashlyn and Collier to celebrate my Mom's birthday for the weekend. It was so much fun to relax and spend time with everyone and boy was I glad to see my sweet boy....even just one night away and I missed him a ton! Mom and Dad were awesome to have such an adventure with Collier and Ashlyn joined them on Friday for the day as well. Fun to have two cousins play together with their grandparents! I couldn't ask for better grandparents for Collier (all of them), but his Grammie (my mom) is so special to us and I am so thankful for her. I love to watch her interact with Collier and the love that radiates from her brings me such happiness. She is a wonderful mom and friend to me and I am so thankful that God gave her to me as my Mom! She has served as a great example of a women who loves the Lord and shares His love through all that she does! I'm thankful that we live in the same city and that we live so close to one another and I am so thankful for all that she does for my family! We talk, laugh, cry and love together and it is simply wonderful! We're greatly blessed and we wish her a very Happy Birthday with all of our hearts!

The other thing that we did this weekend was attended a sweet friends 1st Birthday party in Dothan. Justin's friend Eddie and his wife Jennifer live in Dothan and they have a little girl, Elizabeth, and she turned 1 this weekend! It was so fun to see so many sweet babies. There were 4 other children there and they were all boys and within 3 months of each other. We got to see some friends we haven't seen in a long time and it was so much fun! I was so glad to be invited and that we were able to make it. They really are very special friend and mean so much to us....Eddie is Collier's godfather. A very special Happy Birthday to Elizabeth!

One of Collier's newest discoveries are Popsicles! Justin gave up chocolate for Lent and so we have fruit Popsicles instead....Last week Justin decided to give Collier a taste and oh boy HE LOVED IT. Now when he sees us with a Popsicle he starts bouncing his arms and squealing with excitement....usually mouth wide open waiting for a bite!

Ok.....IS ANYONE STILL READING?...The final and most nerve racking exciting thing that occurred this weekend was that Collier took his first REAL step...all by himself. We were eating dinner Saturday night and he was crawling around the table and playing. He crawled over to me and stood up and was walking in between our chairs holding on - which is totally normal. All of a sudden he let go and was standing there and suddenly stepped forward and stayed standing up. I couldn't believe it. Tonight he has done it more and more and has taken a few more steps. I've tried to catch it with my camera and can't seem to get the timing right. We can't believe it and to be honest I am not ready for my sweet little baby to be walking yet! I want him to stay curled up in my arms but the hard truth is that he is growing up and quickly becoming a big boy!